LCD Soundsystem defies calls to boycott Israel - #BDS

An American musician has performed in Israel despite a campaign mounted by pro-Palestinian activists encouraging him to boycott the gig.

American dance act LCD Soundsystem, the stage name of producer James Murphy, played to both Israeli and Arab fans at a concert in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

By appearing at the Heineken Music Festival Mr Murphy defied the efforts of anti-Israel protesters, who had bombarded the LCD Soundystem Facebook page with messages accusing him of endorsing “a fascist mass murdering regime”.

One person wrote on the page: “Many Israelis believe it is right to murder Palestinian babies. They don’t even consider it a murder.”

The activists had also set up a Facebook group entitled “Please don't play for Apartheid Israel.” One member of the group commented: “Do you want to play for slow genocide?” while another wrote: “Do you want to play for war criminals?”

Last month a group of Irish artists launched a cultural boycott of Israel, while in May Elvis Costello cancelled a performance in Israel for “political reasons”.

However others, including Johnny Rotten, Missy Elliot and Rihanna have all ignored calls to pull out of concerts.

Palestinians present: Resistance through culture - #BDS

Not just Boney M: Summer of 2010 sees West Bank turning into major cultural center with countless dance, film and music festivals, performances. Message is support of Palestinian people in their quest for independence, event organizers say

After their daily Ramadan fast-breaking meal, some 3,000 people gathered at Nablus' Sama Park to enjoy Syrian and Egyptian drama series on a big screen and a Spanish flamenco performance last week.

Nablus is not alone. In recent months the West Bank has turned into one giant performance and culture center. One of the major attractions was the Palestine International Festival of Dance and Music. Tens of thousands of Palestinians flocked to watch exciting performances by various groups and artists.

Ramallah Mayor Janet Mikhail invited residents to join in the street dancing as part of the Ramallah Festival of Contemporary Dance. The city also hosted the Jerusalem Festival and the International Film Festival.

Israeli institutions facing new boycotts—by Israelis - #BDS

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- By now it would seem that Israelis are accustomed to calls for boycotts of Israeli products and institutions.

Many, however, may have been caught off guard this summer when those calls came from inside Israel.

In two separate incidents over the past few weeks, Israelis issued a call for boycott or announced a boycott of an Israeli institution for political reasons. One protest came from the right, directed at an Israeli university with allegedly “anti-Zionist” professors on staff; one came from the left, directed at an Israeli theater in the West Bank.

The boycotts from within may mark a new front in Israel’s political battles.

For the time being, mainstream Israeli figures are condemning both boycotts.

"Culture is a bridge in society, and political disputes should be left outside cultural life and art," Israel’s minister of culture and sport, Limor Livnat, said in response to the theater boycott.

The latest boycott call came after several Israeli theater companies announced plans to stage productions at a new theater in Ariel, a Jewish city of 20,000 in the West Bank. The $10 million cultural center in Ariel, which was built partly with government funding, is scheduled to open Nov. 8. It will be the first major theater in a Jewish settlement, most of which are smaller bedroom communities.

H&M Protests in Sweden on August 18th and 28th - #BDS

On August 18th and 28th there were protests in Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden, against H&M’s continued establishment in Israel. Activists handed out flyers to customers and informed about H&M’s investment in an apartheid state – Kfar Saba is the fourth H&M store opened in Israel this year – and how it contradicts the global BDS movement aiming to defeat apartheid. H&M turns a blind eye to the blatant discrimination of Palestinians in Israel and to the ethnic cleansing and occupation being perpetrated not far from the new H&M stores.  Furthermore, H&M stores in Sweden were labeled with alternative price tags. The new sticker price tags are similar in size and style to the original labels, and carry the message of the BDS against H&M campaign.

3M buys Israel’s Attenti for US$230-million - #BDS

NEW YORK — Diversified U.S. manufacturer 3M Co said it would pay US$230-million in cash to buy Israel’s Attenti Holdings SA, which makes technology used to remotely monitor criminals and elder care patients.

Attenti is expected to have about US$100-million in sales in 2010. 3M is buying the business from an investor group led by Francisco Partners.

The deal is expected to be slightly dilutive to earnings over the first 12 months after the deal closes, 3M said. Excluding purchase accounting and integration costs, it expects the deal to add slightly to earnings over the same period.

3M has been busy on the dealmaking front this week. It announced on Monday plans to purchase Cogent Inc for US$943-million, paying a nearly 18% premium for the maker of identification systems used to screen travelers at border crossings.

3M Chief Executive George Buckley said last week that the company could spend US$2-billion on acquisitions this year, double its previous estimate.

Blue and White: Where Uri Avnery has it Wrong - #BDS

Once again Uri Avnery is using his blog to criticize the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Under the title "Red and Green," Avnery comments on the long and interesting program recently broadcast on Israeli Channel 10 on the growing international isolation of Israel.

Avnery, the veteran journalist and activist, repeats his main arguments against "boycott Israel" campaign and the need to focus only on the boycott of settlers and settlement products. I have already reacted to a similar criticism by Avnery , but the well-deserved authority of Uri Avnery within the international solidarity movement requires a debate of what I consider to be his (very few indeed) mistaken views.

"Indeed there is no need for a world-wide [BDS] organization [the reportage] says, because all over the place there is a spontaneous surge of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli feeling. Following the "Cast Lead" operation and the flotilla affair, this process has gathered momentum," summarizes Avnery.

After this summary, Uri's blog focuses on a criticism of the campaign of boycotting Israel. His main argument is that the campaign doesn't distinguish between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). For Avnery, while the OPT should be totally freed from Israeli control and domination, the territories west of the "Green Line" are "naturally" Israeli, just as Manchester is Great Britain and Hanover is Germany. There should be no challenge to this reality and, as Uri said once, he will be the first to defend Israel from any such challenge. For Avnery, the colonial nature of the State of Israel is obsolete within 1948.

Montreal: Carrying Forward the Momentum Against Israeli Apartheid - #BDS

Since 2005’s historic call from Palestine for a comprehensive, international movement for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, we have seen many important victories for this movement in both Canada and Québec.

The past two years have seen growing numbers of Québec civil society organizations taking up the call for BDS. From the student movement and the commitment to BDS passed by L’Association pour une Solidarite Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) in 2006; to college and university workers calling for boycott under the banner of College and University Workers United (CUWU) in early 2009; to the recently passed resolution in support of BDS by the members of la Centrale des syndicats du Quebec (CSQ), one of Quebec’s largest labour federations, growing numbers of people have enthusiastically joined the international BDS movement.
Beyond Québec, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has become the first union at the national level to join the BDS campaign, while the Ontario branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-ON) has also helped to push the boycott to centre stage. 2009 has seen increasing public debate on the issue of BDS in Canada, whether during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, within the United Church, in the public debates on the academic boycott on university campuses in Ontario, or in LGBTQ communities, where queer activists organized anti-Israeli apartheid contigents in pride parades in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. This energy in diverse sectors of society shows that the movement against Israeli apartheid and for BDS is growing.
Now is the time to reflect on the successes of the BDS movement in Canada and Quebec to date, as well as to work to consolidate and intensify our efforts in solidarity with the people of Palestine, who continue to suffer under the brutal system of Israeli apartheid. All BDS activists, as well as anyone who is interested in learning more about BDS, are invited attend to a 3-day BDS conference from October 22 to 24th , 2010 in Montreal, Quebec. Together we will map out the next steps in the Quebec and Canadian movement to end Israeli apartheid and to free Palestine!
for more information
info@bdsquebec.orgwww.bdsquebec.org
endorsed by Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign National Committee, Palestine
This conference is being organized by individuals and members of College and University Workers United, Tadamon! Montreal, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, Solidarité Palestine Solidarity, The Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine, Palestinian and Jewish Unity, and the Coalition for Justice in Palestine-UQAM. Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Toronto

Catalonian Youth Advocate Palestine Via Music - #BDS

Nablus – PNN exclusive – a group of Catalonian youth currently visiting the Palestinian territory have taken the responsibility to advocate the Palestinian cause using a number of methods among them music.

The group visit is organized by Solidarity with Palestine from Barcelona, an organization that is specialized in advocacy work for the Palestinian cause.

The organization advocacy work is done by organizing tours to Catalonian musical groups visiting schools, workshops, and art galleries and movies, Ashraf Ayoup, an organizer for the organization told PNN.

Joseph Nadal, a singer in the Catalonian group, said he came to visit Palestine to learn about the Palestinian community and life under occupation in addition to learn about the Palestinian cultural and music. 

Nadal says he was moved by the way the Palestinians welcomed his group and despite life under occupation people still smile. “I admire the determination of the Palestinians to live “ Nadal Added.

The Catalonian said that there is a boycott campaign is Spain to Israeli products that are using media and prints to educate people that buying Israeli products is supporting occupation, he hoped that this campaign will expand to reach more people.

150 academics, artists back actors' boycott of settlement arts center - #BDS

The actors' boycott of the new Ariel cultural center received a boost yesterday with over 150 academics and several dozen authors and artists signing letters in their support.

In the academics' letter, released yesterday, over 150 faculty members from universities across the country vowed not to lecture or participate in any discussions in settlements, and voiced support for the theater artists who have said they would refuse to perform in the West Bank city. "We will not take part in any kind of cultural activity beyond the Green Line, take part in discussions and seminars, or lecture in any kind of academic setting in these settlements," the academics wrote.

"We support the theater artists refusing to play in Ariel, express our appreciation of their public courage and thank them for bringing the debate on settlements back into the headlines," the petition said. "We'd like to remind the Israeli public that like all settlements, Ariel is also in occupied territory. If a future peace agreement with the Palestinian authorities puts Ariel within Israel's borders, then it will be treated like any other Israeli town."

The murder of a 13-year-old and the trigger-happy ‘Captain’ who walked free - #BDS

Iman Darweesh al-Hams and I were both born in 1991. But in late 2004, while I spent my days chasing basketballs and hurriedly finishing spelling tests, Iman’s bullet-riddled body fell to the ground, lifeless.

I was introduced to her a few months after her death. The Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs ran an article about her final moments and never did I cry so hard for someone I never met.

Although it’s been over five years since I shed those tears, her story still brings back those heavy emotions. The world went black the day she was murdered. This might be five years overdue but this is my tribute to Iman. This is her story.

Postal union backs end to Gaza blockade - #BDS

TORONTO — The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is urging Canadians to send postcards to Palestinians on a ship that will attempt to run the blockade of Gaza.

CUPW, which supports boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) efforts to isolate Israel, said Israel’s suspension of mail delivery to Gaza “is for us a more global issue. Gaza is for us like a prison for 1.5 million people. They cannot receive day-to-day necessities,” CUPW president Denis Lemelin said.

CUPW is backing an effort by a coalition of Canadian organizations, many of them Arab or Muslim, to run the blockade some time in October. An organization called Canadian Boat to Gaza states on its website that it is attempting to raise $300,000 to finance a boat and crew that will bring aid and supporters to Gaza. The website says the ship will also “carry exports out of Gaza. Thus asserting their right to export, trade and provide for themselves rather than be at the mercy of international aid.” CUPW hopes to include the postcards on the ship.

PA ministry clamps down on substandard produce - #BDS

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Ministry of National Economy consumer protection officers carried out 290 inspections across the West Bank last week, officials said Sunday.

Officers, in cooperation with the PA Ministries of Agriculture and Health, inspected 2,498 stores, of which 210 were found to be in violation of laws and regulations, officials explained. Customs agents assisted in the inspections.

Twenty-two samples were taken for testing and 18,596 kg of different varieties of goods were disposed of for falling below Palestinian standards and specifications. Additionally, 33 merchants were referred to prosecution for violating the Consumer Protection Law, the Settlement Boycott Law, or for failing to display prices appropriately.

Irish groups to buy ship for new Gaza aid flotilla - #BDS

DUBLIN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Pro-Palestinian groups in Ireland launched a fundraising drive on Monday to buy a ship for a second attempt to breach Israel's sea blockade of Gaza.

The Irish Ship to Gaza campaign aims to send between 30 and 50 Irish people, including public figures, journalists and activists, to join a flotilla taking aid to people in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

"Preparations are well under way internationally for the Second Freedom Flotilla, which is being assembled by the same groups that organised the Freedom Flotilla in late May," organisers said in a statement.

Between 10 and 15 ships are expected to take part, cargo ships as well as passenger vessels.
Israeli commandos killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists in a melee after they boarded a vessel in the previous flotilla, which also included Irish activists. Israel and the United Nations are holding separate investigations into the incident.

In response to Western criticism, including from its biggest ally the United States, Israel has since eased a land blockade of Gaza where 1.5 million Palestinians live, allowing some civilian goods through, while continuing to enforce its naval embargo of the coastal territory.

Israeli leaders have said their troops, on boarding the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, opened fire in self-defence after being set upon by activists wielding cudgels and knives.

Turkey, once Israel's close strategic ally, called the bloodshed Israeli "state terrorism", withdrew its ambassador from Israel and cancelled joint military exercises. (Reporting by Carmel Crimmins, editing by Tim Pearce)

Art as resistance: "Against the Wall" reviewed - #BDS

The relationship between art and politics has always been ambiguous and contested. For many people, "art is above politics," overlooking that art is embedded in the social world and at the mercy of those (publishers, promoters, galleries, etc.) whose mediation between artist and public is in the fullest sense political.

Artists may trust to the innate power of their work to transcend its exploitation as propaganda. Or they may offer it precisely for such purposes (agit-prop). Or they may seek to withhold it by participation in a campaign of cultural boycott, a tactic being increasingly deployed against the Israeli state.

A seemingly exceptional situation arises when the political context from which art emerges is simultaneously the surface on which it is inscribed. The Berlin Wall has been described as "the world's longest canvas" and was used as such by artists like Thierry Noir, Keith Haring and a host of unknowns.

‘Blues Brother’ helps UJA campaign kick-off - #BDS

TORONTO — UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s 2011 campaign has raised a total of $15.5 million so far, campaign co-chair Jeff Rosenthal announced at last week’s official campaign launch.


The tally was more than he expected: donors had come forward earlier that night to pledge a total of $2.5 million. The event, held Aug. 24 at the Carlu in downtown Toronto, featured actor/comedian Dan Aykroyd.
This year, organizers want to raise an additional $2.5 million beyond what was raised last year, to help young Jews counter negative messages about Israel.
If previous donors can increase their gifts by five per cent, and if those who haven’t given to UJA in the past contribute now, that goal can be achieved “easily,” said Rosenthal.
Last year, UJA raised $64 million. More than $9 million of that amount was raised by UJA Women’s Philanthropy, said women’s philanthropy chair Sarena Koschitzky.
New UJA initiatives this year include reducing the Birthright Israel waiting list from its current number, 1,200, to 600; providing Israel advocacy training for high school and university students; enhancing the quality of Jewish education in day and supplementary schools; and increasing funding to strengthen Jewish summer camps and increase the number of children attending, Rosenthal said.